A laminated type piezoelectric/electrostrictive element conventionally manufactured by use of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material (hereinafter referred to also as a piezoelectric/electrostrictive porcelain composition, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive ceramics or the like) has been utilized for electronic products such as a piezoelectric actuator, a filter, a piezoelectric resonator (including an oscillator), an ultrasonic vibrator, an ultrasonic motor and a piezoelectric sensor since the element has a very high response speed in an electric signal.
As a related conventional technology, in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a laminated type piezoelectric actuator having been obtainable an insulator, external electrodes and lead wires on a fired body produced by firing a laminate produced by laminating alternately green sheets containing a piezoelectric ceramic material as a main component and internal electrodes. It is to be noted that the internal electrodes of the piezoelectric actuator disclosed in Patent Document 1 contain a silver-palladium alloy material and the piezoelectric ceramic material at predetermined ratios, to prevent the internal electrodes from being peeled from the green sheets.
Also in Patent Documents 2 and 3, similarly from the viewpoint of the prevention of peeling from a dielectric layer (a piezoelectric ceramic layer), there are disclosed a laminated chip part in which internal electrode layers containing almost the same ceramic powder as that of dielectric layers are used, and a laminated piezoelectric body in which a laminated body obtained by laminating a plurality of piezoelectric ceramic layers is provided with electrode layers made of a silver-palladium alloy containing silver at a predetermined ratio, respectively.
Heretofore, there has been such a known technique in which an electrode material is blended with a piezoelectric/electrostrictive material to improve adhesion between piezoelectric/electrostrictive bodies and electrodes.
Conventionally, external terminal electrodes of a laminated type piezoelectric/electrostrictive element has been disposed on the surface of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive body (externally) by applying an electrode material containing a glass component and the like on the surface of the fired piezoelectric/electrostrictive body, and subsequently firing the resultant. That is, to manufacture the laminated type piezoelectric/electrostrictive element including the external terminal electrodes, the firing is performed at least twice, i.e., firing the piezoelectric/electrostrictive body and firing the external terminal electrodes.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-H11-121820
Patent Document 2: JP-A-H10-172855
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2006-73672